Intelligence Agencies
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis or exploitation of information and intelligence in support of law enforcement, national security, defense and foreign policy objectives. Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. The assembly and propagation of this information is known as intelligence analysis or intelligence assessment. Described below are examples of various intelligence agencies. Bundesnachrichtendienst The Bundesnachrichtendienst (German: "Federal Intelligence Service"), shortened to BND and known by the CIA as CASCOPE, was the main intelligence agency of West Germany (later Germany after Germany reunified) during the Cold War, established on April 1, 1956. After a United States Naval Base in Cuba was configured into a Black Site, some members of the BND paid visit to the site, alongside other agencies, even Eastern agencies, to interrogate the prisoners. One of these prisoners, 12282, was questioned by them and others, and relayed this information to Big Boss, his commander, when the MSF leader rescued him. Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), sometimes referred to as Langley (in reference to the neighborhood that the CIA headquarters is stationed at), is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States Government. Its primary function is collecting and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons in order to advise public policy makers. It is based in Langley, Virginia. It is also known as The Agency or The Company, and its agents in Central America referred to as "UCLAS" (Unilaterally Controlled Latino Assets). The organization itself in Latin America was sometimes referred to as la Cia, due to the primarily Spanish-speaking locals and the name technically being a feminine word. History Founded on September 18, 1947 as a successor of World War II's Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the CIA played an important role during the Cold War. Antagonism with The Boss In 1959, the CIA was unhappy with the President's selection of The Boss for covert sabotage missions in the Soviet Union, and refused to help her. However, when The Boss managed to tap into the Philosophers' spy network and eventually plant a mole into the Soviet bloc to bring back volumes of data, the CIA had her stop so they could reap in on the credit, using their concern of her getting involved in black ops as an excuse. Around the same time, the CIA also sent various soldiers into North Vietnam to train various guerilla groups to fight against the North Vietnamese. Eventually, they cut The Boss's sleeper agent's pay by a large percentage, which resulted in her mole defecting completely to the Soviet Union and feeding them misinformation. In 1961, when The Boss noticed conflicting details about the doctored blueprints supplied by their mole, the CIA ignored her claims, believing that she was trying to claim back her former glory. After The Boss discovered the truth about Sputnik 5, as well as what the CIA had done, they attempted to ruin her life to avoid taking responsibility. They first began to feed several lies to the newly elected President, John F. Kennedy (the first President to have no previous ties with the Philosophers), such as claiming that it was The Boss's fault that the sleeper agent had defected, and then having her placed into the Mercury Lady project. They eventually tried to erase The Boss from the Mercury team, even going as far as to doctor a photo of them, after its failure and Gagarin's announcement. Around this time, the CIA also orchestrated a mission known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, where they trained Cuban exiles and thus tried to have them retake control of Cuba from the communists, but it backfired and ended in disaster when Kennedy ended up not sending in the air support he promised them. The CIA also used this event as part of their cover-up of The Boss's Mercury Lady accident. In 1962, the CIA had Major Zero aid Soviet researcher Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov, and his family, defect to the United States. However, at the same time, the CIA, via one of its spy planes, also discovered that the Soviets were creating a missile base in Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. After several tense weeks, the Soviets eventually backed down from installing the missile base, although under the condition that Sokolov be returned to them. During this time, Sokolov's family was also kept in CIA custody. It was speculated by Green Beret Roy Campbell, that the CIA were aware that the Soviets would look to the San Hieronymo Peninsula in Colombia as the site for a new missile base, if they failed to do so in Cuba, even before the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. However, this information was seemingly kept from the rest of the government, which would have allowed the CIA to use it in any future secret negotiations with the Soviets. In 1962, Zero and The Boss unofficially formed the special forces unit FOX within the CIA. At some point during the 1960s, the CIA recovered the operative Python from Vietnam, whose injuries had resulted in his losing the ability to control his body temperature, which would cause his death without proper treatment. They fitted him with a special cooling suit to alleviate his condition so that he could eventually return to duty performing top-secret black ops. There were also plans to send a CIA agent into Soviet territory, disguise him as a GRU officer, infiltrate a base, and steal classified documents, but the mission eventually ended up cancelled for undisclosed circumstances. Operation Snake Eater In 1964, the DCI and The Boss organized the Virtuous Mission in order to regain control of the Philosophers' Legacy, which was in possession of GRU Colonel Volgin in Tselinoyarsk. After Volgin launched one of the portable nuclear weapons given to him by The Boss, the CIA, fearful of the renowned soldier's charisma, arranged to have her killed in order to clear America's name. Director Hot Coldman then planned the follow-up mission Operation Snake Eater and had Naked Snake (the last protégé of The Boss and member of FOX) sent into Tselinoyarsk a week later to kill Volgin, The Boss, her Cobra Unit, and also to retrieve the Legacy. During the week between the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater, there was also a shakeup at Langley that resulted in several key figures in the CIA being placed under house arrest, due to accusations of following The Boss's example and defecting.3 After the operation, Coldman lost his position as a Director (presumably for knowing too much about the mission). The mission's success led the DCI to establish FOX as an official CIA unit. Meanwhile, Python undertook training to become the "Anti-Snake," so that he could eliminate Naked Snake, a.k.a. Big Boss, should he ever betray the CIA. Post-Snake Eater During the 1960s, the Pentagon began to feel threatened by the CIA's growing influence in America's military affairs, especially in regards to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961 and the covert ops in Indochina. Sometime between 1966 and 1970, the CIA began taking people in for the Perfect Soldier Project, a project designed to create the ultimate soldier. During the stages of the project, they also took a young, recovering child soldier named Frank Jaeger from a relief center in Mozambique and used him as a guinea pig for the project. Jaeger ultimately turned out to be the only survivor and successful byproduct of their project. They also went through another project, this time to produce the ultimate battlefield commander. A FOX operative named Gene volunteered to be a test subject to the project codenamed the Successor Project. In October 1967, the CIA, through the joint efforts of the Bolivian special forces and commandos from their Special Activities Division stationed in Bolivia, captured and executed the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. San Hieronymo Incident In 1970, the Cold War appeared to be coming to a close as the Soviets were running out of the funds required to carry it on. This would cause the CIA to lose the influence it had gained over this time. They arranged for Gene's FOX unit to steal the Intercontinental Ballistic Metal Gear and transport it to a Soviet base at the San Hieronymo Peninsula, so that they could deliver it to the Soviets and pretend to defect to the USSR. However, at the same time, the Pentagon had ordered FOX (via Lt. Cunningham) to launch the ICBMG into the Soviet Union so as to tarnish the CIA's reputation as an efficient intelligence gathering agency. By doing this they could re-ignite the Cold War. However, Gene had other plans and changed the target from the USSR to Virginia, USA, which would obliterate the main headquarters of both the Pentagon and CIA. This forced the DCI to head to an underground bunker with records of the Philosophers' Legacy. Knowing this, Ocelot was able to intercept him, kill him, make it seem as though he committed suicide, and take the remaining part of the Legacy. Because of this, the CIA headquarters also experienced a major shakeup on its seventh floor (where the CIA's top brass is located). Post-San Hieronymo The Philosophers' Legacy was later used by Zero to establish the Patriots, a successor organization of the Philosophers controlling the United States from the shadows. Around this time, the CIA was also influencing Costa Rican president José Figueres Ferrer into enacting pro-American policies as well as allowing gold mines to be used by foreign companies. Peace Walker Incident In 1974, the CIA apparently hired a mysterious military force to invade Costa Rica, the nation without a military. In actuality, the CIA was already stationed in Costa Rica with the intent of driving out the Soviet influence in the neighboring country, Nicaragua. However, the Peace Sentinel (a rogue unit of the CIA), led by CIA Station Chief for Central America Hot Coldman, was conducting the Peace Walker project, which entailed creating the perfect deterrent which he planned to use in creating a new order where machines ruled over everyone. In addition, the CIA also attempted to hunt down the Militaires Sans Frontières, necessitating the latter party to relocate whenever they come near, to which Kazuhira Miller, MSF's subcommander, had to assure Big Boss that the guests that have arrived to MSF's camp were not members of the CIA.5 After the chaotic events where Coldman leaked Peace Walker's false data to NORAD and nearly caused a nuclear war, the CIA, along with the KGB, attempted to cover up the events in question, which also served as a golden opportunity for the MSF to arm Metal Gear ZEKE with the nuclear warhead that was originally installed on Peace Walker after they fished it out of Lake Nicaragua. Eventually, their involvement in José Figueres Ferrer’s policies was admitted by Ferrer on March 1975. In addition, Miller and Big Boss worried after Chico managed to successfully leak a photograph of Chrysalis to a tabloid piece, resulting in Grenada's Prime Minister, Sir Eric Gairy, requesting that the UN allow the establishment of a facility studying UFOs and extraterrestrial life, namely due to the fact that Gairy might end up digging too deep and stumbling on various CIA projects that resembled the Alien Abductions/Cattle Mutilations reported throughout Central America, causing the situation to go red, although they still would have problems actually getting to him due to Grenada being next door to Cuba. In addition, Paz Ortega Andrade was also a member of the CIA, acting as a triple agent between them, the KGB, and Cipher, also known as the Patriots. Post-Peace Walker On December 21, 1974, just a few weeks after the Peace Walker Incident, the mysterious XOF group claimed to be under the employment of the CIA. However, an undercover agent uncovered that the group didn't even answer to Langley, and informed Big Boss as much during a mission to retrieve classified intel relating to Cipher for the MSF. The CIA during the Soviet-Afghan War proceeded to back the Mujahideen to drive the Soviets out of the region. This included supplying them with a secret weapon codenamed Honey Bee, although after the Hamid that had the weapon were wiped out, the CIA was forced to hire Diamond Dogs to retrieve it, being unable to retrieve it directly without exposing America's involvement. They also had a CIA informant stationed at OKB Zero, although he went AWOL out of paranoia after he uncovered XOF's plans to use the vocal cord parasites and XOF's former ties to the CIA. During the late 1980s, Solidus Snake operated as a CIA paramilitary in the First Liberian Civil War. Following the Outer Heaven Uprising, Solid Snake briefly joined the CIA as an undercover agent, but left after six months in the organization due to feeling dissatisfied with the system. In 1999, during the Zanzibar Land Disturbance, the Agency managed to infiltrate agent Holly White into the hostile country, posing as a journalist. She went on to help Snake complete Operation Intrude F014. The CIA also looked into Dr. Drago Pettrovich Madnar's background under White's request due to the latter becoming suspicious of him. In 2002, the CIA would claim that the "evidence" that Iraq had WMDs amounted to a 'slam dunk case.' The search following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S., British and international forces yielded no WMDs. Central Security Service The Central Security Service (CSS) is an agency established by the United States Department of Defense in 1972 via Presidential Directive, to promote full partnership between the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Service Cryptologic Elements (SCE) of the United States Armed Forces in the field of signals intelligence. During the Peace Walker Incident, Cipher agent Pacifica Ocean implied that her organization intended to gain influence over agencies such as the CSS, in order to watch over the world and guide the will of its people. Committee for State Security (KGB) The KGB, an initialism for the Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Комитет государственной безопасности), was the former Soviet Union's Committee for State Security, established by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. Its precursor was an organization called the Cheka, founded in 1917, that served to suppress sabotage and counter-revolutionary activities. The KGB's original purpose was domestic surveillance and the prevention of uprisings, but it also operated intelligence activities overseas as an extension of this role. Espionage equipment such as lipstick-shaped guns carried by female agents, and tracking devices hidden in the soles of shoes are said to have been developed by the KGB after it began to collect intelligence on foreign scientific technologies. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, its authority was turned over to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation. The KGB was split into several divisions, including the Sixth Directorate, which focused on Economic Counter-intelligence and industrial security, and the Ninth Directorate, which protected the Kremlin and provided bodyguards for high-level VIPs. The KGB also commanded Spetsnaz (special operations) units such as Alpha Group and Vympel. History During the 1960s, the KGB developed various devices for espionage purposes, such as a button-sized camera and a narcosis gun disguised as a cigarette. Operation Snake Eater In August 1964, KGB guards from the Ninth Directorate, armed with AK-47s and RGD-5 grenades, were sent to the OKB-754 design bureau to guard weapons scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov against GRU forces led by Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin. The Ninth Directorate was chosen by Khrushchev for guarding Sokolov because it's head was a protege of Khrushchev himself and wanted to cut risks to ensure that the Shagohod's development succeeded without interference. CIA operative Naked Snake managed to infiltrate the abandoned factory where Sokolov was being held, but was ambushed by KGB troops as he made his exit. Snake was then saved by Major Ocelot of GRU, having mistaken him for a defecting agent, and killed the KGB soldiers present. Pressuring the CIA to assassinate The Boss, who had provided nuclear warheads to Colonel Volgin, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev allowed the FOX unit to use one of the KGB's communication satellites during Operation Snake Eater, one week later. The KGB also set up a meeting between Snake and one of their agents, known as ADAM. Despite Snake's arrival at the meeting point on time, he instead met with the supposed KGB operative EVA who took over ADAM's mission. EVA had actually been a spy for the Chinese People's Liberation Army, while the triple agent Ocelot (who was really ADAM) acquired half of the Philosophers' Legacy for the CIA. Shortly after the mission, even though EVA/The Boss's debriefing indicated that the reason for the change in the mission was because they didn't want the Soviets to know about their attempt at stealing the legacy both times, the KGB nonetheless knew about the true nature of both missions, with Ocelot suggesting that they use their knowledge on the missions as blackmail to the United States Government in future negotiations.1 In addition, the KGB was involved in ousting their former employer, Khrushchev, from power. Post-Snake Eater After the events of Operation Snake Eater, the KGB located Nikolai Sokolov (who had survived the incident by faking his death), and transferred him to the gulags until he was rescued by the FOX operative Gene. In the 1970s, the KGB formed an elite counter-terrorism operations unit called Alpha Group.2 The KGB also had some involvement in orchestrating various rebellions in the West. Some KGB members became acquainted with Kazuhira Miller, a mercenary then serving in Colombia as a trainer for a guerilla group. Peace Walker Incident In 1974, KGB spy Vladimir Zadornov was dispatched to Costa Rica in order to propel Central America towards Communism and help the Soviets win the wider Cold War. First, he had KGB contacts supply Amanda Valenciano Libre's Sandinistas with a drug-purification plant, in order to raise money for their revolution in neighboring Nicaragua. Zadornov then disguised himself as a respected University for Peace professor, Ramón Gálvez Mena, and hired the Militaires Sans Frontières to combat the CIA Peace Sentinel who were operating in the country. In reality he had allied himself with the rogue CIA forces, providing resources for a mobile nuclear launch platform that they were developing, but intended to use it for the Soviets' own designs. He was aided in this scheme by fellow operative Paz Ortega Andrade. Zadornov and Soviet troops later took over the U.S. missile base in Nicaragua, in which Peace Sentinel were preparing to launch a nuclear strike. The KGB intended that Cuba be attacked, making it seem as though America was the guilty party, allowing anti-American sentiment and Communism to spread unchecked throughout Central America. However, this plan failed, due to their former Sandinista allies turning on them. After Coldman activated Peace Walker, almost causing a nuclear catastrophe, the KGB and the CIA both attempted to cover up the incident. Miller was somewhat surprised that the KGB had collaborated with the CIA, although Big Boss had heard similar stories concerning operatives in the field, albeit not at the station chief level.4Miller considered trying to convince Zadornov to join MSF, to bolster the morale of their Russian members. Though imprisoned by the MSF, Zadornov again attempted to hijack a nuclear weapon, with inside help from Paz, but was killed before he could witness the mission's conclusion. Paz, however, was also working as an agent of the shadowy organization Cipher. Ground Zeroes Incident On December 3, 1974, Miller's KGB contacts hired MSF for a hit on U.S. Marine sniper duo Glaz and Palitz, who had acted as assassins-for-hire in the Laotian Civil War. Miller assured Big Boss that the contacts in question had no ties to Zadornov. Phantom Pain Incident During the Phantom Pain Incident, a contact for Diamond Dogs was in the KGB and uncovered some sensitive material relating to the floating kid and the Man on Fire, securing it in a film canister to deliver to Diamond Dogs. However, the KGB found out about his activities and quickly silenced him with a hit squad. He ultimately succumbed to his wounds, although not before hiding the film canister near Spugmay Keep and sending the image via the iDroid's VI (although the image was corrupted presumably because of his death). In addition, the KGB also sent a Spetsnaz squad to retrieve the film, although the Diamond Dogs leader, Venom Snake, managed to retrieve the film canister before they did. Later Years During the Cold War, Psycho Mantis and Vulcan Raven joined the KGB as part of its psychic intelligence division and Vympel spetsnaz unit, respectively, but both left in the early 1990s; Mantis after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Raven after Russian President Yeltsin's 1993 coup d'etat. Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is a major producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 military and civilian employees worldwide. It was established in 1961 by Robert McNamara. The Defense Intelligence Community is headed by the DIA, through its Director (who chairs the Military Intelligence Board), and coordinates the activities of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force intelligence components. The DIA and DIC provide military intelligence to warfighters, defense policymakers and force planners within the Department of Defense and the United States Intelligence Community, in support of U.S. military planning and operations and weapon systems acquisition. During the 1970s, Cipher intended to gain influence over agencies such as the DIA, in order to watch over the world and guide the will of its people. In 1992, Nastasha Romanenko joined the DIA, which was where she met her future husband Richard Ames. In the early 2000s, the DIA developed the assassination virus FOXDIE, whose development had hit a wall until the involvement of Naomi Hunter. The DIA later allowed FOXDIE to be injected into Solid Snake during the Shadow Moses Incident. Inter-Services Intelligence The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (بین الخدماتی مخابرات), more commonly known as the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is the premier Intelligence service of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, operationally responsible for providing critical national security and intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan. It was established in 1948 by Major General Robert Cawthome. Critics of the ISI have long accused it of using designated terrorist groups and militants to conduct proxy wars against its neighbors, including the rebel groups in Iraq. Rivalry between the ISI and the civilian government has also been alleged. During the 1970s, ISI officials arrived at a United States naval facility in Cuba after it was converted into a black site to interrogate the prisoners, one of whom was prisoner 12282. He later relayed this information to his commander, Big Boss, when he was rescued by him. Main Intelligence Directorate The GRU (pronounced /gruː/) or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye("Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние"), meaning Main Intelligence Directorate, is a Russian military intelligence agency. Overview First established in 1918 by Leon Trotsky, first leader of the Red Army (first under the name RU), GRU was assigned the role of handling military intelligence and was intended to be an agency for the Soviet military. They were granted full independence from other organizations within the Soviet Union, and Lenin specifically told the other groups to not get involved with the activities of the GRU. As a result of both this as well as GRU having been infiltrated during 1919 by the Cheka, the predecessor of the KGB (State Security Committee), a fierce rivalry developed between the GRU and KGB. Little was known about the very existence of the GRU during the time of the Soviet Union. However, its presence became well known throughout Russia after the collapse of the Soviet bloc and is still currently in existence, along with the Spetsnaz (special forces). Spetsnaz GRU The Spetsnaz are a special unit of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formerly the Soviet Armed Forces, under the control of GRU. Operation Snake Eater During the Cold War, Colonel Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin commanded a faction of the Spetsnaz GRU in order to oppose Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In August 1964, Volgin ordered his forces to capture nuclear weapons scientist Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov while the latter was working on the Shagohod prototype, under KGB custody in Tselinoyarsk. The Ocelot Unit were sent to carry out this task, under the command of Major Ocelot. Despite being bested in combat by CIA infiltrator Naked Snake, Volgin, and his recently-acquired ally The Boss, personally arrived in the area to extract Sokolov themselves. A week later, many GRU soldiers (led by both Colonel Volgin and Major Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov) were stationed as guards in Groznyj Grad, where Sokolov was forced to complete the Shagohod. There, many GRU soldiers encountered and fought Naked Snake. A unit of GRU soldiers were also stationed in Rassvetlaying in wait to ambush Naked Snake when he was waiting for ADAM, although they were killed by his 'substitute,' EVA. During Snake's battle with Major Ocelot at Bolshaya Past, both regular and Ocelot GRU soldiers surrounded Snake to ensure that no one interfered with the duel, though they were later driven off after being swarmed by The Pain's bees, with some of the Ocelots dying from multiple stings. Several of the GRU soldiers stationed at Groznyj Grad were later killed, either from the C3 exploding in the Shagohod hangar, or from Volgin driving the Shagohod through Groznyj Grad. A surviving platoon of GRU soldiers later pursued Naked Snake and EVA throughout Zaozyorje upon discovering the wreckage of EVA's motorcycle, with a sniper contingent also lying in wait for them near the border of Rokovoj Bereg. Post-Soviet Collapse Former Spetsnaz colonel Sergei Gurlukovich formed a private military group following the collapse of the Soviet Union, consisting of other disillusioned members. They later participated in terrorist operations during the Tanker Incident in 2007 and the Big Shell Incident in 2009. Likewise, two other former Spetsnaz members, Shotmaker and Red Blaster, proceeded to become mercenaries before they ended up joining the mercenary nations of Outer Heaven and Zanzibar Land, respectively. National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a satellite imagery-based intelligence agency of the United States government. Formed in 1961, it designed and utilized spy satellites, and was considered, alongside the CIA, NGA, NSA, and DIA, one of the five largest U.S. intelligence agencies among the 16. The director reports to both the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, and acted as the assistant secretary of the United States Air Force. During the time of the Peace Walker Incident, Cipher intended to gain influence over agencies such as the NRO, in order to watch over the world and guide the will of its people. National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States government, administered as part of the United States Department of Defense. Established on November 4, 1952 by President Harry S. Truman, it is responsible for the collection and analysis of foreign communications and foreign signals intelligence, which involves cryptanalysis. It is also responsible for protecting U.S. government communications and information systems from similar agencies elsewhere, which involves cryptography. NSA's work is limited to communications intelligence; it does not perform field or human intelligence activities. In September 1960, two NSA code breakers, ADAM and EVA, defected to the Soviet Union. ADAM was the triple spy better known as Ocelot. During Operation Snake Eater, a woman posed as EVA to aid Naked Snake in his mission while secretly plotting to steal the Philosophers' Legacy for the Chinese Government. During the time of the Peace Walker Incident, Cipher intended to gain influence over agencies such as the NSA, in order to watch over the world and guide the will of its people. On January 24, 2000, the NSA facility in Fort Meade suffered a total system shutdown for a 73-hour period. It was believed that a small group within the government had arranged the incident with the assistance of a notorious group of crackers, of which Emma Emmerich was the leader. This resulted in a full review of NSA's safety measures, which led to the decision to shift the data-gathering operations to an isolated location that would be safe from physical attack as well as cyber-terrorism. In 2005, Emma herself was recruited by the NSA after the government leaked the details of the Shadow Moses Incident to her. Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known and referred to by its former name MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence, operating under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC). It was formed in 1909, and its founder was Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, although his codename was the first letter of his last name, "C." In his honor, members of the SIS had codenames derived from the first letter of their last names. Its existence was not officially acknowledged in public until 1994. Its headquarters from 1964 to after the Cold War was also located in a tower building known as the Century House. After 1994, however, the headquarters were relocated while Century House itself was redone into modern flats. Prior to the formation of the FOX Unit in 1964, Zero was a member of MI6, under the codename "O" (derived from his real name of David Oh). After a United States naval facility was converted into a black site during the 1970s, the MI6 paid a visit to the site to question the prisoners, including 12282, who relayed this when rescued by his commander, Big Boss of the MSF. In the early 1990s, Liquid Snake worked as an undercover SIS agent, during the Gulf War.